In a poll conducted in December 2000, he was the third most popular politician in Latvia with a rating 35.4 points on a scale from -100 to +100, after President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga with 54.6 points and Bank of Latvia President Einars Repše with 52.5 points.
During the course of Expo 2000, 300,000 visitors to the Latvia Pavilion generated their personal zimes, including the (then) President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.